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Copy 1 PROCEEDINGS 



GREAT WHIG MEETING 



CITIZENS OF BOSTON, 



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On the Evening of Wednesday, Oct. 10th, 1838. 



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15 O S T O N : 

PRINTED BY PERKINS & MARVIN. 

1838. 



WHIG MEETING. 



On Monday, October 8th, there appeared in the several Whig 
papers of the city of Boston, the following call for a public meeting, 
viz : — 

Important Whig Meeting. 

WnrGs of Boston! — Attention!! Those Wiiigs of Boston inclined to 
sustain the law regulating tiie sale of spirituous liquors, passed at tlie last session 
of the General Court, or some similar law of equal or greater etticacy towards the 
total suppression of the retail trade in ardent spirits; and those Whigs also who are 
opposed to the political proscription of any members of tiie Whig parly, on the 
ground of their having voted for the said law, or being opposed to its repeal, are 
requested to meet at Jlmon/ Hall, on Wkdnesday Evening next, at 7.J o'clock. 

Measures will be proposed of the highest interest and importance, towards 
supplying the people throughout the State, with the means of forming an in- 
telligent and candid judgment, as to the merits of the said law, and the reasons 
urged for its repeal. 

A project will also be brought forward and a preliminary arrangement proposed, 
towards bringing out at a moment's warning, if circumstances should render such 
a proceeding necessary, an uNPLEDGF.n Whig Ticket, for senators and represen- 
tatives, from this city and county, to the General Court. 

A general attendance of those favorable to the objects of the meeting, is urgently 
requested. 

In compliance with this call, the Whigs of Boston assembled in 
great numbers at the place appointed for the meeting. At an early 
hour, the hall was crowded to excess ; and very many persons went 
away unable to obtain admission. 

At the appointed time, the meeting was called to order by T. R. 
M.\RviN ; and proceeded to organize itself, by electing Georgk Bond, 
Esq. as Chairman, and J. Thomas Stevenson and T. R. Marvin 
as Secretaries. 

After the organization of the meeting was completed, the Chairman, 
in a short, but impressive speech, called the attention of the meeting 
to the objects for which it had assembled. lie remarked that he 
owed, as he supposed, the honor of being called to preside upon the 
present occasion, to the fact, that heretofore, he had taken no con- 
spicuous part in the advocacy or execution of measures brought for- 
ward by the friends of temperance. lie had never belonged to any 
temperance society ; nor had he been at all in the habit of attending 



temperance meetings. Indeed all along, he had been inclined to think 
tliat the friends of temperance were pushing matters too fast, and were 
outrunning public opinion, ile thought so at the time when the law 
of tiic last session of the Legislature, regulating the sale of ardent 
spirits, was introduced into that body. At that time, he had a strong 
opinion as to the inexpediency of that law. But the unanimity with 
which it had passed, and the strong disposition every where exhibited, 
among the people, to sustain it, had satisfied him, that heretofore he 
had been in error; that he himself had been behind public opinion in 
this matter ; and that the friends of temperance had not gone beyond 
it. He now believed that the law ought to be sustained, and that it 
would be sustained. 

He then proceeded to speak of the great importance, at the present 
time, of union and unanimity in the Whig ranks; and the propriety 
and necessity of adopting a conciliatory course on both sides. One 
great object of the present meeting, was, as he understood it, to 
propose terms of conciliation, and he trusted this conciliatory dis- 
position would be met in the same spirit, or rather would be adopted, 
by the Whig Ward and County Nominating Convention ; and that 
such a ticket for senators and representatives would be brought for- 
ward by that body, as all the Whigs of the city and county might 
cordially unite upon. 

The Chairman concluded by calling upon the gentlemen present to 
propose such matters for discussion, as they might judge suitable to 
promote the objects of the meeting. 

Thereupon, R. Hildreth, Esq. took the floor and addressed the 
meeting substantially as follows : 

Mr. Chairman, — We are met together at an eventful crisis in the 
affairs of this Commonwealth. We are met to consult and advise 
upon matters of the most serious import, and weighty importance. It 
is indeed a crisis for patriots to act in ; a crisis which calls for all our 
caution, all our prudence and all our courage. It is an occasion which 
no doubt requires on our part the sincerity and harmlessness of the 
dove, but which at the same time demands from us, the courage of 
the lion, and the wisdom of the serpent. It is now some six or seven 
years since I have been a curious, busy, daily student and observer of 
the political affairs of our community. It has indeed been my business 
and my i)rincipal occupation. But never before, never upon any other 
occasion, have 1 been a hundredth part so deeply impressed as I am 
at this moment, with the conviction that most important principles of 
public policy, and the most serious interests of the Commonwealth 
were at stake. Whether we look at the present crisis in a moral or 
a political point of view; whether we consider the well being of the 
whole community, or regard the welfare, I may say even the continued 
existence of the Whig party in this Commonwealth ; in either point of 
view, the present is an occasion of the most serious importance. 

At other times I have not been anxious to play the orator. Ilolyday 
occasions, and meetings merely for show, have no charms for me. But 
an occasion like this ; an occasion of serious import, which demands 
.serious deliberation, and manly action, — this is an occasion which I 
confess I do feel ambitious to improve. I esteem it indeed a high 



honor, to be the organ for submitting to tliis meeting the resolutions 
which I am presently about to propose ; and however our proceedings 
may result, most sure I am, that I shall never have occasion to repent 
the acceptance of that honorable and responsible duty. 

We are met here, Sir, in two distinct characters, and with a double 
object. We come here in the first place, as the friends of temperance, 
— the real, not merely the pretended friends of temperance, — for that 
is a character which now-a-days every body finds it convenient to 
assume. We come here as friends to the principle of giving to 
temperance a legal settlement in this Commonwealth — a privilege 
which till the law of the last session, was never yet conferred upon it. 
On the contrary, it has been intemperance which has possessed the 
legal settlement, while temperance has been compelled to straggle 
about the land, not as a lawful denizen of the Counnonwealth, but as 
a stranger and intruder, and too often an unwelcome intruder. 

We come here then, in the first place, as persons desirous to give 
to temperance a legal settlement in this Commonwealth, and in that 
character, the present occasion is full of interest to us. But we come 
here also as Whigs, desirous to strengthen and to preserve the Whig 
party ; and as Whigs, this is an occasion which calls for wise decision, 
and intrepid action. 

Let us in the first place, consider the relation which this crisis has 
to the cause of temperance. I can say, sir, as well as you, that with 
the measures of what has been aptly and appropriately called the 
temperance reform, I have hitherto had but little, or rather no con- 
nection. It is true that some seven or eight years ago, by the solici- 
tation of friends, I was induced to attend a meeting for the organi- 
zation of a Young Men's Temperance Society in this city. Being 
then but a neophyte, there were some clauses in the proposed consti- 
tution, which seemed to me to carry matters too far, and accordingly 
I opposed their adoption. My opinion was probably ignorant, but it 
was certainly sincere ; however it was so far from meeting the views 
of some of the more ardent of the assembly, that an attempt was 
actually made to hiss me down. That attempt however did not 
succeed ; and the Society made me the amende honorable, by adopting 
my proposed amendments, and choosing me as one of their othcers. 
However, I perceived that my ideas did not correspond with theirs; 
and I never afterwards attended one of their meetings, and whether or 
not I ever signed their constitution, I have totally forgotten. This 
was the beginning and the end of any connection on my part, with 
any temperance society. Nevertheless, I am, and always have been, 
a friend to temperance ; and though I have not desired to put myself 
forward as one of its sunshine advocates on those occasions when 
nothing was to be lost, and every thing was to be won by the advocacy; 
in the hour of danger, when the cause seems to be really at hazard, 
then I am willing, I am desirous, to cotne forward as its advocate. 
That hour of danger has now arrived ; many who have hitherto 
gathered golden opinions as the advocates of temperance, now shrink 
and falter; let them stand aside then, and to the best of my ability, I 
will perform that service from which they shrink. 

The principle upon which was founded the law of the last session 
in relation to the sale of ardent spirits — a law, to raise an excitement 



with respect to which, such an attempt has been made throughout the 
Commonwealth by those interested in the trade in spirits, — the principle 
of that law is, that any retail trade in spirituous liquors to be used as a 
drink, is highly pernicious and dangerous to the community, and 
ought to be totally suppressed. Such is the principle of that act ; and 
it is, as I undertake to say, and will be ready on any proper occasion 
fully to maintain, the only principle upon which temperance can ever 
obtain a legal settlement in this Commonwealth ; the only practicable 
means whereby we can ever be delivered from the intolerable flood of 
evils with which the drinking of spirituous liquors has overwhelmed 
this Commonwealth. This is the principle by which the permanency 
of the temperance reform must stand or fall; this principle is embodied 
in that law, and in my judgment, after a careful study and examination 
of the act, embodied in it in a judicious and unexceptionable manner. 
The law is a good law, an excellent law; good in its principles, and 
good in its details ; and being such a good law, it ought to be, and it 
must be, sustained. 

That law we must have, or no law ; for it is to be observed, that the 
arguments relied upon to procure the repeal of that law, are of a 
nature to sweep away every law upon the subject. It is set up and 
pretended, that there is a natural, essential, and inalienable right to 
sell rum, which the legislature has no power to restrain or interfere 
with ; and upon this new and most extraordinary principle of natural 
and constitutional law, the repeal of the act is most vociferously 
demanded. It is obvious that this principle goes to the sweeping 
away of all laws whatsoever, in restraint of the trade in spirituous 
liquors ; and that if we repeal this law, we must for the same profound 
reasons, repeal all laws upon the subject; and so place ourselves in the 
very delightful predicament of having in the towns and cities, a grog 
shop at every corner of the streets ; and in the country, at every 
crossing of two roads. 

The consequences of the repeal of this law, would be disastrous in 
the extreme. I am far from believing that even this repeal, much as 
I deprecate it, would place any permanent obstacle in the way of the 
temperance reform. That great cause rests on too sure a foundation 
to be thus overthrown. It rests upon the humanity and the intelligence 
of the age ; and every day, from every corner of the earth, it gathers 
new strength, and enlists new converts. Its course is onward, and 
triumph it must and will. But though the repeal of the law would not 
and could not prevent the ultimate and final triumph of the prin- 
ciples of temperance in this Commonwealth, still such a repeal ought 
to be most strenuously opposed ; for it would be attended with most 
disastrous consequences. The ultimate and final triumph of the 
temperance cause can only be secured by the enactment of a law in 
principle exactly like that which it is now proposed to repeal. By 
enacting this law, temperance has secured a strong hold, which makes 
its speedy triumph certain. Repeal this law, and you give up this strong 
hold, and the battle must be all fought over again. The friends of 
temperance must give up the Commonwealth to be strewed broad cast 
with grog shops, retire to the frontier, and commence the war anew. 
It will be a hard and desperate war. Our opj)onent3, made wise by 
past experience, will not as hitherto, relinquish the grog shops and 



petty rum shops an easy conquest to our arms. They have learned 
tliat these establishments are a necessary rampart of defence to their 
interests. They will scatter them as thick -and fearful through the 
Commonwealth, as ever feudal castles were scattered through Germany 
in the middle ages. Each will stand a siege, and require to he carried 
by assault; and when perhaps, at the end of a ten years' campaign, 
we have signalized our victory, and secured the permanency of our 
conquest, by the re-enactment of the very law which it is now pro- 
posed to repeal, as we march along exulting in this great triumph of 
patriotism and humanity, our triumphal march will lead us — Oh! 
horror ! — amid the mouldering skeletons, and over the slaughtered 
bodies of fifty thousand of our fellow citizens ! Fifty thousand citizens 
of Massachusetts, who have perished in tiic battles and campaigns of 
this ten years' warfare — killed by rum ! And behind our procession 
of triumph, and mingling their moans and lamentations with the 
echoes of our rejoicing, will come the widows and orphans of those 
slaughtered men ; and their cries will go up to heaven in tones of 
condemnation and of execration against the folly, the imbecility, the 
cowardice and the treachery of those, who ten years before had re- 
linquished the victory already in their power; surrendered the rampart 
of the law, and made all this protracted warfare, this slaughter and 
these sufferings necessary. Gracious God ! in that hour, if come it must, 
in that hour, grant, that I at least may never feel the still, small voice 
within me, responding to the cries and execrations of those widows 
and orphans, thou art the man ! Fellow citizens. Heaven grant, that 
in that hour of mingled joy and mourning, if that hour must come, — 
Heaven grant, that the skirts of your garments may be free from that 
blood; and that amid the conscience stricken, and trembling poltroons, 
upon whose heads those curses will light, you may stand up erect, and 
calmly say, Wc neiicr consented to their death ! 

So much, Mr. Chairman, for the aspect of the present crisis, as it 
relates to the question of temperance. Let us now consider how the 
present crisis bears upon the preponderance, and the existence of the 
Whig party. 

Before the passage of the law of the last session regulating the trade 
in ardent spirits, there were but two political parties in this Common- 
wealth, namely, the Whig party, and the Van Buren, Tory, or Loco 
Foco party. Since the passage of that law, a third party, armed and 
equipped like Pallas from the head of Jupiter, — if the birth of Sin 
from Satan's brain according to Milton's version of the matter, would 
not be a more appropriate comparison, — has suddenly sprung into ex- 
istence. It is completely organized, with its central committee, its 
county committees, and all the attributes of a regular political party. 
This party is drafted indifferently from the ranks of the Whigs and of 
the Loco Focos, though principally, as I believe and hope, from the 
Loco Focos ; but whoever joins it, by so doing, at once merges his 
Whigism or his Toryism in the great fundamental principle of this 
new party, to wit, the repeal of the new law. 

This new party, feeling itself not over strong, is naturally desirous 
of using the two old parties, one or both of them, to accomplish the 
object at which it aims; and as the Whig party has a most decided 
preponderance throughout the Commonwealth, the new party is ex- 



8 

tremely anxious to use the Whigs for its own purposes, and if possible 
to frighten them into being submissively used. 

The present position of the Whig party seems to me to bear a very 
strong analogy to the position in which it formerly stood at a time 
some six years ago, when it bore the name of the National Republican 
party, and when the Anti-masons, at that time a strong third party in 
this Commonwealth, attempted to use the National Republicans by 
nominating John Q,. Adams as the Anti-masonic candidate for governor, 
and endeavored to frighten the National Republicans into giving him 
their support. 

I was then quite young, but deeply interested in politics, and con- 
nected with a daily newspaper. It struck me, in reflecting upon that 
crisis of affairs, that if the National Republicans suffered themselves 
to fall into the trap which the Anti-masons had thus set for them ; if 
they ever submitted to support an Anti-masonic nomination, then it was 
all over with them as a party. They would sink into a mere appendage 
to the Anti-masonic party; they would become a mere bob to the Anti- 
masonic kite ; and the leaders of the Anti-masons would rush in and 
put themselves at the head of public affairs. So the case struck me, 
and so the case struck those with whom I was associated in the 
conduct of the paper alluded to ; and we resolved to take that ground 
in the paper; and we did do so. 

This opposition to the nominee of the Anti-masons, was forthwith 
denounced by many great leaders of the party ; and the paper itself 
was denounced as a very dangerous paper ; and people ran up and 
down the streets crying out. You will ruin the party ! If we attempt 
to set up a candidate of our own, we shall certainly be beaten ; there 
will be no choice of governor ; the party will be divided, and the 
Jackson men will triumph over us ! 

But notwithstanding these clamors, the ground we had taken had so 
much decided good sense in it ; and it so fell in with the good sense of 
the people, that notwithstanding all opposition, a convention was held, 
and John Davis was nominated by the National Republicans, and was 
run not only against the stereotype affair of the Jackson party, but also 
against the venerable, and highly respectable nominee of the Anti- 
masons. And how did the experiment turn out? True, the election of 
governor was defeated, and in many counties, the election of senators 
was defeated. But the National Republicans succeeded where any 
party which has a majority of the Commonwealth with it, is pretty 
sure always to succeed, that is, in the house of representatives. We 
had a majority in the house ; that majority in the house, by the election 
to fill the senatorial vacancies, gave us a majority in the senate ; and 
this majority in the house and senate, elected our governor ; and the 
next year John Davis was chosen by the people by a decided majority ; 
and from that time till this, the party which elected him has been 
triumphantly predominant ; and all this as I believe, and ever have 
believed, in consequence of the firm and decided manner in which 
the National Republicans refused to let themselves be used by the anti- 
masons, — a usage which could only have resulted in the political an- 
nihilation of the party used. 

It seems to me that the present crisis in the affairs of the Whig 
party, bears a strong analogy to that crisis in the afi'airs of the National 



Republican party above narrated. I do not indeed consider the new 
party with whose machinations we have now to contend, a quarter part 
so strong as the Anti-masonic party then was ; and the Anti-masons at 
that time had a host in the mere name of their candidate. Nor was the 
attempt tlien made by the Anti-masons to use the National Republican 
party, a tenth part so gross and outrageous, as the attetnpt now made 
by the pre.sent third party, to use the Whigs. Tiie Anti-masons were 
content «'ith nominating a governor for the National Republicans; the 
present third party undertake to dictate to us whom we shall vote for 
as members of the Legislature. They frankly s*y to us, that in their 
eyes, all the great national aims, objects and principles of the Whig 
party, are but dust in the balance, compared with the repeal of the 
obnoxious law; and they say to us, — this third party, composed of a 
little fragment of the Whig party, and a considerable fragment of the 
Loco Foco party, says to the whole Whig party, — Gentlemen, you must 
suffer us to nominate all your candidates for the Senate and the House, 
or else we will desert, set up for ourselves, go over to the Tories, or 
at all events, do you all the damage in our power. To which coolly 
impudent proposal, it is my sentence that we should answer just as 
coolly ; Gentlemen, do your pleasure. While you were Whigs, we 
were happy in your votes and your assistance; if you have ceased to 
be , Whigs, we are sorry for it; but as to permitting you, or any other 
faction of our friends, or pretended friends, to dictate jjcremptorily to 
the Whig party, whom it shall vote for, and whom it shall not vote for; 
as to suffering you, or any other petty and interested faction, to take 
upon themselves the exclusive management of our party affairs, and to 
proscribe a large division of the most worthy and respectable of the 
Whigs, as unfit and disqualified to go to the Legislature ; — that is a 
piece of usurpation and impudence, to which we cannot and we will 
not submit. And if after this answer, any who have heretofore been 
Whigs, choose to leave us — let them go ! Let them go, as they have 
done in Worcester, Hampden, and other counties, amalgamate with 
the Loco Focos, or nominate a ticket of their own ; let them go ; and 
it remains for us to proclaim their treachery, and to call long and loud, 
upon the Whig voters of the Commonwealth to come to the rescue ; 
and there are some twenty or thirty thousand Whig voters in the Com- 
monwealth, whom such an appeal will bring out; though they would 
not come at any ordinary call, at this call, they will come; and they 
will elect the Whig tickets triumphantly. At all events, we shall be 
sure of a decided majority in the House ; and that majority secures 
us the State administration. Whereas if we yield to the threats with 
which we are assailed ; * if we cower at the bold impudence of this 
attempted usurpation, it is all over with us as a party. The great 
national principles of the Whig party, are hustled into the back ground ; 
and in the front rank of this new political array, stand forth the repeal 
of the new license law, as a banner, and the principal advocates of that 
repeal, as its supporters ; — a fine cause, fellow citizens, for us to be 
engaged in! pretty leaders, for us to follow! Yes, Mr. Chairman, I 
say it boldly, and I say it positively, — upon the course which the Whig 
party now pursues, its existence as an independent party depends. 
Once mix it up with, and make it subservient to, the mere self-interest 

B- 



10 

of a few busy leaders, and it loses all possibility of permanent or re- 
spectable existence. 

Let us now consider for a moment, what is the nature of that 
allegiance which as Whig citizens of Boston, we owe to the Ward 
and County Nominating Committees. For my part I profess to be a 
party man ; and I know that no party can exist without an organization, 
and a disposition in the members of the party to sustain that organiza- 
tion. I am a party man, because I believe that in general, it is im- 
possible to accomplish any great political objects, any great reforms in 
the administration or in the laws, except through the instrumentality 
of some political party. If you would influence men, you must be of 
them and among them ; you must understand their views and feelings, 
and by acting with them, secure their confidence. A party man how- 
ever must be prepared to make great sacrifices to his connection with 
a party. He cannot have his own way. He must be prepared to give 
up his prejudices, his preferences, his personal wishes. On questions 
of mere expediency, he must often surrender his own judgment .All 
these sacrifices, 1 for one, as a party man, am ready to make. I 
am ready to vote for a ticket upon which there is not a single name 
which I would myself have selected, provided that ticket be regularly 
nominated, and there be no other objection to it, except my own 
private judgment or repugnance. I would go a great way, to support 
regular nominations; I would submit to a good deal of under hand 
trickery, rather than divide the party ; but there are lengths to which 
I cannot go ; there are things to which, as a man of principle and 
honor, I cannot and I will not submit. For instance, suppose the 
Nominating Committee, for the sake of promoting some interested 
end, hostile to, and inconsistent with the great ends and object of the 
Whig party, is packed by a secret under-hand arrangement ; suppose 
further that being so packed, it suffers itself to be made the tool and 
instrument of an interested faction, for the nomination of certain 
" pledged " candidates, and for the proscription of some much better 
men and much better Whigs, whose independent public spirit had 
brought them into collision with certain private and selfish interests, — 
why Sir, in such a case, I say plainly and distinctly, that I never 
will submit to be used, and to be abused, for any such purpose; and 
I know well that not a single man in the city of any courage or any 
spirit will submit to be so used and abused. We might submit to 
be used ; but to be used and abused at the same time, is a little too 
much. 

But while I take this firm and decided stand, at the same time I 
am very reluctant that any breach should occur in the party; nor is 
there the least occasion for it. The fourth resolution among those I 
am about to offer, proposes a ground of compromise, upon which 
the opponents of the new law, if they have any confidence in their 
own strength, cannot refuse to meet us. That resolution proposes to 
refer the law for confirmation or rejection, to the people. This is a 
good republican, democratic proposition ; and a proposition not to be 
evaded. If the people are in favor of the law, as we believe they are 
by a decided majority, then the law they must have, and they will 
have ; on the other hand, if the majority of the people are opposed to 



n 

the law, as its opponents confidently assert, then we have no wish to 
impose the law upon them. If then the opponents of the law have 
any real confidence in their popular strength, they cannot refuse 
to come into this proposal. If they decline to do so, if they evade 
this fair and reasonable oflTer, we must conclude, and the public 
will conclude, that they feel and know, that the people are against 
them. 

Before closing, I will trespass upon the indulgence of this assembly, 
to make a short statement respecting the law in controversy, which I 
intended to have introduced into a previous part of my remarks. It 
is said by many, and I understand it to be said by some who call 
themselves temperance men, that this law was premature; that it was 
forced upon the people ; that it was carried by surprise and manage- 
ment ; that it is a harsh, severe, headlong law ; and ought therefore to 
be repealed. Now I am authorized to state, by a member of the Boston 
delegation in the House, whose name, if I should mention it, would be 
an ample guarantee for the statement, and whose name I will mention, 
should there be any occasion for it — that the country members who were 
the original friends and advocates of the bill in the House, perceiving 
that its introduction had produced a great flutter among the Boston 
members, came voluntarily to some of those members, and in con- 
sideration of the delicate position in which some of them seemed to 
be placed, — a sort of dilemma between conscience on the one hand, 
and their constituents upon the other, — these country members pro- 
posed the postponement of the bill to the next session. This proposi- 
tion was peremptorily rejected, by the leading Boston opponent of the 
bill, who insisted with great vehemence, upon crushing the abominable 
bill at once. He had his way. The idea of postponement was given 
up ; and after all the desperate efforts made by this member and his 
compatriots to crush it, the bill passed both Houses by most decisive 
majorities ! This gentleman and his friends were as much opposed 
to all modifications and softenings of the bill, as they were to its 
postponement. They did their best to make the provisions of the bill 
as extensive and comprehensive as possible ; and it was not their 
fault, that wine was not included in it along with spirits, — since one 
of them proposed an amendment to that eflfect. Thus it was the op- 
ponents of this law, and thus it was the very men who are now 
engaged in desperate efforts to break it down, who caused this law to 
pass when it did, and as it did. In so doing, they did good service to 
their country ; and however undesignedly they did it, still I thank 
them for it. It is they who have erected this legal rampart of the 
temperance cause ; it is they who have forced the friends of tem- 
perance into their present position ; and that position, being thus 
forced into it, I will maintain, that rampart I will defend ; and I see 
before me plenty of the substantial rank and file of the Whig party, 
who are warm and ready for the same good service, and who will 
stand to its defence, spite of all the artillery, big and little, that may 
be brought to bear upon them, so long as there is a piece of the 
rampart left as big as your hand, to stand upon. 

And let no one lament, Mr. Chairman, that there are not more 
of those who have been conspicuous on other public occasions, 



n 

now here to act with us. I say Sir, in the words of Shakspeare's 
gallant Harry, 

Wish not another man ; 

Oh no ! 1 would not lose so great an honor, 

As one man more, methinks would share with me, 

For the best hope I have. O do not wish one more ; 

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through our host. 

That he who hath no stomach for this fight, 

Let him depart ; his passports shall be made, 

And crowns for convoy put into his purse ; 

I would not stand in that man's company, 

Who fears his fellowship, to stand with me ! 

And I tell you Sir, the time is coming and that quickly, 

When gentlemen now quietly at home. 



Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, 
And hold their manhoods cheap, when any speaks 
Who fought with us, upon St. Crispin's day ! 

With the permission of the meeting, I proceed, Mr. Chairman, to 
offer the following preamble and resolutions, of which I move the 
adoption. 

Whereas — In the opinion of this meeting, the best interests of the people of this 
Commonwealth, and their future happiness and prosperity, are deeply and vitally 
involved in the sustentation of the principle of the law passed at the last session of 
the General Court, regulating the trade in spirituous liquors ; the principle, 
namely, of the total suppression by law, of the retail traffic in ardent spirits, 
Therefore, 

Resolved, 1st, That a committee of fourteen be nominated by the chair, the 
nomination to be submitted to this meeting for approval, to consist of one from 
each ward, one from South Boston, and one from East Boston ; which persons 
thus appointed, shall constitute a Central Committee of Vigilance and 
Correspondence ; and shall be authorized to appoint a Sub-committee of finance, 
a Treasurer, an Auditor, and as many Secretaries and Agents as shall be necessary, 
and Sub-committees also in each ward of the city ; and shall be empowered to fill 
any vacancies that may occur in their own body ; which committee are hereby 
authorized and requested, forthwith to open a correspondence with the Whigs 
friendly to the principles of the law afore*said, in every town and city of the 
Commonwealth, and to take immediate and effectual measures, that every voter in 
the Commonwealth shall be furnished with the means of forming an intelligent 
and candid opinion as to the merits of the new law, and the reasons urged for its 
repeal. 

And inasmuch as certain very extraordinary measures, wholly contrary to the 
established usages of the Whig party, are alleged and generally believed to have 
been resorted to, in the appointment of the Whig Ward and County Nominating 
Committees for this city and county ; and inasmuch as the friends of temperance, 
and the Whig advocates of the law above-mentioned, are openly threatened with 
a political proscription; friendship for that law being pronounced in certain 
quarters, an absolute disqualification in candidates to represent the city and county 
in the General Court ; the decided intention being avowed, to procure the nomi- 
nation by the Whig Nominating Convention, of a pure, pledged, repeal ticket for 
Senators and Representatives, which ticket, by way of recommending it to the 



13 

confidence of tlie Wliigs of Boston, it is alleged will be supported by a large 
portion of our political opponents, Therefore 

Resolved, 2d, That tlie Committee of Vigilance aforesaid, be and hereby are 
empowered and requested, to take immediate and efTectual measures for bringing 
out, at a moment's warning, if unhappily circumstances should render such a 
proceeding necessary, an unpledged Whig ticket, for Senators and Represen- 
tatives from this city and county ; said commitlee being authorized to call a public 
meeting, at any time, for the purpose of subniilting such ticket ibr approval and 
confirmation, or for the transaction of any other necessary business. 

And Whereas, the mixing up the question of the suppression by law of the retail 
trade in ardent spirits, with the party politics of the day, can only furnish occasion 
for intrigue, and political bargaining; is sure, if atlompted, to result in loss and 
damage to the Whig party ; and will necessarily fail to furnish any authentic or 
satisfactory test of public opinion, touching the expediency of such a law; and 
whereas, so far as we are informed, all the Whigs friendly to such a law, are also 
decidedly of opinion that no such law ought to be persevered in, or could be 
advantageously carried into operation, unless it met the views, and is sustained by 
the feelings and the judsrment of a strong majority of the people; Tlierefore 

Resolved, 3d, That this meeting, having perfect confidence in the intelligence 
and good sense of their fellow citizens, and desirous that this vexed question may 
be put to rest by an expression of public opinion, such as cannot be misinterpreted, 
misrepresented, or misunderstood, respectfully suggest to the next General Court, 
the expediency and propriety, of referring the said law, for ratification or rejection, 
to the legal voters of this Commonwealth, the subject to be acted upon at meetinga 
appointed specially for that purpose. 

And Resolved, 4tli, That under the very peculiar circumstances with \vhich thia 
case is surrounded, as friends of Temperance, with the view of keeping the great 
moral principles of the Temperance Reform, separate and distinct from the tem- 
porary political questions of the day ; and as Whigs, willi the view of preserving 
union and harmony in the Whig party at this eventful crisis, we authorize, and 
request the Central Committee, appointed by this meeting, and we respectfully 
suggest and recommend to other Whig committees and Conventions throughout 
the Commonwealth, to labor at a compromise of existing differences in the Whig 
party, upon the ground above-mentioned of the reference of the law aforesaid, 
directly to the people. 

The question being on the adoption of these Resolutions, Hon. 
Alden Bradford rose and said, as no otlier one seemed disposed to 
take the floor, he would venture to offer some remarks in support of the 
Resolutions, tliough not with any previous preparation to make a 
speech on the occasion — that he had not come to the meeting with 
the intention of speaking, but to hear — that in expressing his views, 
he might therefore be without method and desultory, but would promise 
to take up but a few moments. The state of his health admonished 
him to this course, as well as a regard to the audience, who would be 
desirous of listening to one of far more eloquence, and of more practice 
and facility in public speaking. 

Mr. B. said he was fully convinced the law was not unconstitutional, 
and that his opinion had not been made up hastily, but after much 
inquiry and deliberation. Nor was it, in his opinion, a restraint on 
personal liberty and rights, any more than all former license laws — 
that the principle was the same in all laws on the subject, lor two 



14 

hundred years — that personal liberty and rights, so called, might be 
justly restrained by law, when the conduct, the overt acts of any 
citizens were violations of the public peace, or led directly to poverty, 
disorder, and crime. Such laws bad always been adopted, and they 
were necessary for the preservation of the public welfare, as well as 
for the interests of morality and virtue — that without good morals and 
industry the republic could not long be supported, certainly not main- 
tained in prosperity and purity. 

Such, he said, was indeed the spirit of our excellent constitution, 
formed by our wisest and best men, who were real patriots and zealous 
friends of civil liberty, since it declared it to be the duty of legislators 
and magistrates so to frame the laws, and to administer them, as to 
cherish sobriety, temperance and industry, and to guard against their 
opposites in the community. 

He also referred to the numerous and fatal evils of intemperance, 
and insisted that it was the duty of every good citizen, in all lawful 
and reasonable ways, to endeavor to suppress or check intemperance — 
that this was for the good of the State, for the peace of families, and for 
the prevention of expenses, of pauperism and crimes. Mr. B. then 
alluded to the formation of the first temperance society in the State; 
which was a quarter of a century ago, in 1813— by Governor Strong, 
Lieutenant Governor Phillips, General Brooks, Chief Justice Parker, 
Hon. Samuel Dexter, &.c., with most of the clergy of Boston and 
vicinity — that its labors and writings had been of great public benefit, 
though opposed at the time as visionary and useless, by some of the 
very men who now made a great clamor against the present law; — for 
they said men would get drunk, and had a right to get drunk, and 
that we could not and ought not to attempt to restrain them. Since 
that time, he said, the cause of the temperance reform had been 
carried further, and more happy and extensive results had followed — 
and though he was no ultraist, and had never been accused, he 
believed, of ultraism, he was in hope the march would be " onward 
and upward," in the good cause — that he was in favor of the present 
law, as one designed and calculated to produce great blessings in the 
community, and to prevent indolence, moral degredation, and crime — 
and particularly as beneficial to the poor and laboring classes, who, 
while there were so many dram-shops and places of temptation and 
incitements to unnecessary drinking, would be led astray, and thus 
subject their families to distress, for their own sensual indulgence in 
what would prove injurious to themselves. And until the law was 
pronounced unconstitutional by the proper judicial authority, he should 
feel it his duty to give the law his decided support — and then he 
would not cease to pray to Heaven that some other means might be 
devised by the virtuous part of society to save the families of the 
descendants of the Puritans from the Hydra of intemperance. 

Mr. B. also expressed a hope that the friends of the license law 
would act with a spirit of moderation and conciliation towards that 
portion of the Whigs who differed with them on this subject — that 
while it was proper to conduct with firmness, he trusted that prudence 
and good feelings would dictate the measures to be pursued by those 
who were in favor of the temperance reform, and of the present law 
prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits by retail. Every effort, he said, 



16 

ought, and he presumed would be made by the committee of the 
present meeting, to support the great Whig doctrine ; and this might 
be done without a direliction of duty or of principle, as to the adoption 
of measures in favor of temperance. 

Mr. Bradford's remarks were received with great favor by the 
meeting, and he sat down amid reiterated acclamations. 

The question being then put upon the adojition of the Resolutions, 
it was carried unanimously in the affirmative. 

The Chairman having called for other observations and propositions, 
John Tappan, Esq. rose, and stated that he had travelled one hundred 
miles since morning, for the purpose of attending this meeting, because 
he had a piece of information to communicate to it, which he thought 
interesting and important. Having been in New York within a few 
days, and having heard so much said on the constitutionality of the 
license law, he determined to wait on Chancellor Kent and ascertain 
if possible, his opinion. He did so, and was told by the Chancellor, 
that he had giving his opinion in writing, to a member of the com- 
mittee of the grocers of Boston some time since ! He added that 
there was not a doubt of its constitutionality, and no respectable lawyer 
would give a different opinion ! 

Charles G. Loring, Esq. then rose and offered the following 
Resolution : 

Resolved, That proscription, by those who have been appointed upon the nom- 
inating Committees of the Whig party, of any of its members, upon the ground 
of their being in favor of, or opposed to, laws for suppressing tiie retail traffic in 
ardent spirits, would be an abuse of the powers vested in those Committees — a 
violation of the rights of all such Whigs — destructive to the best interests of the 
party — and hostile to the fundamental principles of our political institutions. 

Mr. Loring said, — It would be perceived that the Resolution he 
had the honor to submit, had no direct reference to the recent law, 
but to the political rights and duties growing out of the present crisis. 
His hope was that the measures of this meeting would be the means 
of preventing the difficulties which appeared likely to embarrass the 
Whig party, and enable then again to unite, as usual, in efficient 
concert. That he might not be considered as standing in any equivocal 
position in regard to that law, and that his views in presenting that 
Resolution might be fully understood, he declared that he was decidely 
in favor of it — that he had no doubt that it was constitutional ; or at 
least, that all possible objection as to its constitutionality might be fully 
obviated by a slight amendment, preventing all interference with the 
right of the importer to sell in the quantities and packages imported. 
That he considered the law of equal justice to all. That the only 
question in his mind, if it were now proposed for the first time, would 
be, of its expediency, or in other words, whether the public mind was 
prepared for it. That upon that point, the fact that it was passed by 
a majority of at least two-thirds of the popular branch, and seven- 
eights of the senate, was to his mind conclusive — and that he should 
remain of that conviction until he had better authority for changing 



16 

his mind, than the round assertions, and bold denunciations of its 
enemies. 

Still, he did not offer this Resolution as a member of the temperance 
party. He belonged to no temperance association, and had given no 
pledges. He lamented and disapproved of much that had been said 
and done by members of that party. But that nevertheless he was 
sensible, and as he trusted in common with the great mass of our 
fellow citizens, of the debt of gratitude due to its members for the 
great good which they had accomplished ; a debt, which, if it admitted 
of compensation, successive generations could alone repay. And now 
that their efforts had resulted in the establishment of this law, which 
he believed to be the only effective means of suppressing the crime 
and misery produced by intemperance, he was ready to join heart and 
hand with them, in all just means for its maintenance. 

That the Resolution proposed had reference to an anticipated pro- 
scription, by the Whig Nominating Committees, of the friends of this 
law, from the lists of candidates at the ensuing elections. He hoped 
no such intention had existed, or if it had, that it was now abandoned. 
But it was notorious, that a fearful combination of the opponents of 
the law had been brought to bear upon the election of those com- 
mittees, by which those opponents had obtained the power, and that it 
remained only with their consciences or their fears, whether they 
would use it. That their previous avowed policy was to vote for no 
one not opposed to that law ; that threats of entire proscription, if not 
made by members of the committee, had been made by their fol- 
lowers ; and that a general distrust prevailed among its friends of such 
a design. 

That inasmuch as this power was obtained by direct combination to 
procure it, he was not willing to trust them in the use of it. Had 
they obtained it in the ordinary mode of such elections, without the 
use of such means, he might have been willing to run the hazard of 
their abuse of it ; but that he felt far otherwise now. That the power 
could be used suddenly and effectually, unless provided against — and 
under these circumstances it becomes every sound Whig, a friend to 
the law, to take seasonable measures for the protection of his political 
rights, and express in emphatic terms, his sense of such proscriptions. 

The Resolution contained several propositions which were material 
to be considered. It proclaims that such proscription would be an 
abuse of the power vested in those committees. This was a self-evident 
truth, resulting from a momentary consideration of what the Whig 
party is, and what was the purpose for which those committees were 
appointed. 

The Whig party is a National party, not a State party, having 
reference to great national interests and questions, extending over the 
whole United States, and not to State and Municipal institutions 
merely. The grand principles upon which the party is alleged to be 
founded, is the preservation of the distinction between the Legislative, 
Judicial and Executive functions of the various departments of the 
Government, which the constitution has established, for the protection 
of individual and political liberty. And the great purpose for which 
that party was organized, is to arrest that Executive usurpation which 
for ten years has nearly annihilated those distinctions^ and almost 



17 

shrouded the hopes of the friends of freedom in darkness ; to check 
the tide of political tyranny and corruption which has swept over the 
land like a flood, threatening to overwhelm all respect for personal 
and political integrity ; and last, and perhaps not least, to stop that 
stern political proscription which has come upon the people like a 
raging fire, depriving many honest men of their bread, and the country 
of the services of its purest and ablest patriots, and leaving their places 
to be filled with electioneering demagogues. And the last thing he 
should have expected, would be that any portion of this party would 
avail themselves of its banner and armor, to turn this same engine of 
oppression upon a portion of its own members, and inflict upon them 
the wrong against which from a common foe they had been so long 
and so earnestly contending together. 

The resolution next states that such proscription would be a violation 
of the rights of all Whigs who are in favor of this law: and the appeal 
might safely be made to every true-hearted Whig in this country, 
whether this be not so. WHiat members of the Whig party have stood 
more firmly, and bore its banners higher in the days of darkness and 
extremity, than the friends of the temperance cause — and upon whom 
could greater reliance be now placed, to do battle to the death, if 
needful, in defence of the great principles and purposes of that party, 
than many of those friends of this law, who in all contests fight for 
principle and conscience sake ? And are they to be excluded, pro- 
scribed, disfranchised, because in obedience to the dictates of their 
understanding and their consciences, they sustain a law having no 
reference to the great questions and principles of that party, but merely 
to the jurisprudence and moral welfare of their own State ? It is 
believed that there would be but one response to this question from 
any man worthy to be enlisted under the Whig banner. 

The resolution also asserts that such a proceeding would be destruc- 
tive to the best interests of the party. It must be its total destruction 
in this Commonwealth. If a portion of this party are thus to assume 
its whole power to effect their own purposes, and the friends of this 
law are to be excluded and proscribed — they must come out and 
separate themselves, and establish another party. Self-respect would 
not permit them to submit to the personal degradation of supporting a 
party by which they were thus insultingly proscribed. Or if it would, 
a higher motive, a sense of duty to the great cause in which they are 
engaged, would forbid them to suffer it thus to be abused and disgraced 
in the persons of its advocates. 

That he had ever been a member of the Whig party — a very humble 
one to be sure — but nevertheless a very sincere and faithful one. But 
if it was to be understood that hereafter it was founded on principles 
that admitted of proscription of its members for differences of opinion 
upon subordinate questions, and that its powers and organization were 
to be perverted to the exclusion and defranchisement of those who held 
to those opinions for conscience sake — he was no longer a Whig, even 
though he should stand alone in the declaration. 

The resolution further proclaims that such a proceeding would be 

hostile to the fiindamental principles of our political institutions. And 

nothing could be plainer. These institutions are founded on the sacred 

rights of liberty of conscience, and freedom of opinion — and upon the 

c 



18 

principle that all laws and measures affecting the interests of the 
citizens shall be determined by the collective wisdom of the people, 
in deliberative assemblies of their representatives, after discussion of 
their justice and expediency. 

But what liberty of conscience or freedom of opinion have we, if any 
of us may at any time be proscribed and disfranchised by a reckless 
and unprincipled majority, for every difference of opinion in matters of 
local legislation and moral duty? And what sort of deliberative dis- 
cussion have we, and what security have we that our laws will be based 
upon the principles of truth and reason, or equal justice, if one class 
of individuals is to be proscribed and excluded from the halls of legis- 
lation, and pledged representatives are to be sent with collars about 
their necks or brands upon their foreheads to hold up their hands in 
obedience to the will of their masters without the walls? 

A good cause does not require, and would not admit of pledged ad- 
vocates. He would not vote for any man pledged to support the law, 
any more than for one pledged to oppose it. He should certainly 
prefer to vote for those who coincide with him in opinion upon this 
subject, than for those who differ. But he should despise the individual 
who, in obedience to a pledge, should go resolved to vote for or against 
a law, whatever might be the ultimate convictions of his heart or his 
head. If the opponents of the law were determined to send pledged 
members, he should prefer thai for their oum sakes, they should rather 
be carried to the house with their senses steeped in alcohol, so as to 
be insensible to conviction or persuasion, and hold up their hands as 
automatons, than to walk there, in full possession of their faculties, 
determined resolutely to shut their eyes and their ears, and harden 
their hearts, and close their minds against all appeals to their reason, 
or their regard for the welfare of their fellow beings. 

He would say one word with regard to the policy of this measure — 
which he deemed as fallacious, as unprincipled. Let it be supposed 
that the opponents of the law, should succeed by pledged represen- 
tatives and amalgamations with loco focoism, which no true Whig 
could look upon, at least in such a cause as this, without loathing and 
disgust, in repealing this law. Do they suppose that the final battle 
will have been fought, and the ultimate victory achieved ? No expec- 
tation could be more delusive. 'J'he question whether the government 
shall interfere by legislative enactments, and take means for preventing 
and restraining intemperance — is up before the people ; and must be 
settled by their clear heads and sound hearts, and not by the pledged 
hirelings of a faction on either side. If the cause is founded, as its 
advocates believe, on the great principles of truth and humanity, they 
can well bear to be defeated and overwhelmed now — for they are but 
the advance guard of a mighty army coming after them, into whose 
ranks the tide of jwpulation will be every year wafting new recruits; 
and their stores and ammunition are inexhaustible, for their magazines 
are in the hearts, religion and patriotism of the people. The enemies 
of this cause, if it be thus founded, must go further than to proscribe 
individuals, for until they shall have also succeeded in proscribing our 
school-houses and Bibles, they will not have taken an effectual step for 
the accomplishment of their purpose. 



19 

After Mr. Loring had concluded, the vote was taken on the resolu- 
tion offered by him, and it was carried by acclamation. 

In pursuance of the first resolution, above adopted, the following 
gentlemen were appointed to constitute the 

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

Ward 1 — Richard Austin, 

" 2 — Benjamin Smith, 

" -J— Wilham C. Brown, 

" 4 — Edward N03-CS, 

" 5 — Henry Plympton, 

" 6 — Loring Norcross, 

" 7 — Isaac Parker, 

" 8— J. C. Converse, 

" <)— B. P. Richardson, 

'< 10— Thomas D. Quincy, 

" 11— George W. Phillips, 

" 12 — Edmund Jackson, 
South Boston — Alvan Siraonds, 
East Boston — Eleazer Johnson. 

By a subsequent vote, the Ciiairnian and Serretaries of tlie meeting 
were added to the above committee. 

The coiiiinittee assembled on the afternoon of the 11th instant, and or- 
ganized itself by choosing George Bond as Chairmau, Richard Hildreth 
as Secretary, J. Thomas Stevenson as Treasurer, and J. C. Converse 
as Auilitor. A sub-committee of finance was also appointed ; and the 
Connnittee resolved to proceed forthwith to the energetic discharge of 
the business intrusted to them. As a first step toward this end, they have 
caused to be compiled and published, the foregoins; account of the pro- 
ceedings of tlie meeting at wliich they were appointed. 

Boston, October, 1838. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 012 852 1 ^ 



